Last week, Missouri graduate, Jackson Beaman and former Lincoln MO. standout, announced his commitment to Iowa after entering the transfer portal. He will be a redshirt junior and will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Long remembered as an All- State Football player, Beaman quarterbacked Lincoln to two state championship appearances.
However, his love and All-State honors with baseball ruled his heart upon graduation from LHS. Going to Missouri was his childhood dream. Now he is one step closer to the ultimate prize.
Beaman was a redshirt freshman and he missed the entire 2023 season at Missouri as a sophomore with a serious knee injury, he spent last summer playing with the Bismarck Larks in the Northwoods League. He batted .292, with nine doubles, ten home runs and 37 RBI’s over 42 games.
After entering the portal back on May 25th, the Iowa baseball coaching staff reached out to Beaman on June 14th. Beaman traveled to Iowa City for a visit on Friday. It was a day he won't soon forget. The transfer has given him new life to pursue his dream.
“It just felt right,” Beaman told the Hawkeye Report. “The coaching staff, the city and the university made it seem like the right fit immediately. The development at Iowa is off the charts, the fit with Iowa’s coaching staff, the culture, the conference and only being five hours from home was too good of an opportunity to turn down.”
"I had a lot of offers and interests,” said Beaman. “I chose Iowa over Jacksonville State, Baylor, Florida Gulf Coast, Austin Peay, Southern Illinois, Appalachian State and Kansas. That’s who it came down to at the end.”
This past season, Jackson, playing in the outfield, appeared in 34 games with 25 starts for the Tigers. He batted .247, with a .414 on-base percentage, including four doubles, six home runs and 19 RBI’s. He had a three-hit, seven RBI game against Northern Kentucky on March 2nd, while he hit two home runs against Purdue Fort Wayne on March 9th. Beaman recorded six multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games.
Jackson just turned 22 so he be 23 at next year's draft. He will take nine hours in the fall and nine in the spring in going for a Master's degree .Hopefully, the extra playing time will better prepare him for the draft. Asked if he would come out, he replied, "I'll go whenever I get the call. We don't have to declare in baseball.*
Asked about what he has learned over the past four years, Beaman told this reporter," I would say I learned that things don't always workout the way you have planned, but the way God has planned. I learned life is full of adversities and trials, and to mature and grow from those trials you have to lean on the Lord for strength."
It has been a long ride to get to this point. We wish him the very best.
